2020 Dems back gun limits after El Paso mass shooting

Democratic presidential candidates express outrage Saturday that mass shootings have become chillingly common nationwide and blame the National Rifle Association and its congressional allies after a gunman opened fire at a shopping area near the Texas-Mexico border. Hours later, another mass shooting, in Ohio, claimed more victims.

“It’s not just today, it has happened several times this week. It’s happened here in Las Vegas where some lunatic killed 50 some odd people,” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says as he and 18 other White House hopefuls were in Nevada to address the nation’s largest public employees union. “All over the world, people are looking at the United States and wondering what is going on? What is the mental health situation in America, where time after time, after time, after time, we’re seeing indescribable horror.”

Sanders blasts Republican Senate leadership for being “more concerned about pleasing the NRA than listening to the vast majority of the American people” and says that US President Donald Trump has a responsibility to support commonsense gun safety legislation.

At least 20 people were killed amid back-to-school shopping in El Paso. A 21-year-old man was taken into custody, law enforcement officials said. Fourteen hours later, nine people were killed in another mass shooting in downtown Dayton, Ohio. The suspected gunman was shot to death by law enforcement agents.

The Texas shooting was personal for former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, an El Paso native who represented the city in Congress for six years. He suspended campaigning to fly home and “be with my family and be with my hometown.”

Earlier, O’Rourke appeared shaken as he told the union forum he’d heard early reports that the shooter might have had a military-style weapon, saying the country needs to “keep that (expletive) on the battlefield. Do not bring it into our communities.”

Former vice president Joe Biden says he tried to call O’Rourke and told reporters, “Enough is enough.”

“This is a sickness,” Biden says. “This is beyond anything that we should be tolerating.” He adds: “We can beat the NRA. We can beat the gun manufacturers.”

A visibly frustrated Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar says: “I believe that the NRA have long dominated American politics to the point where they have stopped sensible legislation that would have prevented deaths and prevented killings. They have done it time and time again.”

Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, notes: “We are the only country in the world with more guns than people.”

— AP